Trains in the Netherlands

Holland has one of the busiest rail networks in the world. All major towns (and many smaller ones) have a train station, and there are frequent connections.

The basics:
- trains in all directions go at least twice per hour
- trains run from about 6am until midnight on practically all routes
- trains run every day of the year, including public holidays
- On December 31 (New Year's Eve) there are no trains between 8pm and midnight
- there are first and second class coaches. The difference is not very big in Holland, but the price difference is substantial.
- most trains are operated by the company Nederlandse Spoorwegen (certainly around Amsterdam).
- you must buy a ticket (i.e. have a valid OV-chipcard) before entering the train.
- tickets (OV-chipcards) can be bought at a counter, but also from a machine.
- all train stations have ticket machines, and you can swith the language to English.
- return tickets (called 'day return') must be used on the same day
- return tickets cost twice the price of a single ride (there is no discount)
- there are night trains, once per hour (connecting the stations Amsterdam Centraal, Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena, Schiphol Airport, Leiden, Delft, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Den Haag)

As of July 9 2014, The Netherlands has switched to payment of train rides with the OV-chipcard. This already applied to all buses, trams and metros, and now also to the entire train system.

For incidental train users (such as tourists), it remains possible to buy single-use OV-chipcards. A surcharge of 1 Euro per ticket applies.